I'm currently travelling your beautiful country and noticed these little openings beside the entrances of many townhouses in Gent. They look like small doors, like for mice that live there 🙂
What are they really for?

by PM_ME_YOUR_DIRTY_ART

16 comments

  1. Usually there is a metal band thing there, it was used a long time ago to clean your shoes before going in

  2. There’s supposed to be a metal bar across the hole. They were used to take the muck off your shoes before going inside, way back when there were dirt roads and horse poop everywhere.

  5. Usually there’s a metal strip in front, it was used to scrape the mud of your boots before entering a building. (I hope I’m not mistaken)

  6. When our streets where dirtier, they were used to clean mud/(horshe)shit from the bottom of your shoes before you went inside.

  7. To scrape the dung off your shoes back in the days people rode horses

  10. Boot scrapers.

    Replace cars with horses and carts. Forget diesel fumes, think horse shit….

  15. Seeing all these comments, i believe it was to smear mud and horseshit under your shoes before you went into the house.

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